Sunday, 26 February 2017

Less than 100 days to go

Five days ago I had exactly 100 days left of my shopping ban. I sat down to write about it because it seemed like a milestone worthy of a post, but after stating the fact in a single sentence, I stopped and thought, "Well, what do I write now?".Because, in some ways, it's not noteworthy. I haven't been crossing off the days until the end of the challenge - I've barely been keeping track of the the days at all because not shopping is my new normal now. The other day, apropos of nothing, I wondered how long I had to go and worked it out to the day. It just happened to be 100 days. I'm not breathlessly anticipating the day I can hit the shops and buy a pile of clothes and shoes and bags because I have no intention of doing that. I've broken up with fast fashion and we won't be getting back together. Not just that, but I've said goodbye to the habit of buying things I don't need and the almost constant state of wanting that goes with it. , If anything, I'm looking forward to my shopping ban being over so I can start a new challenge. I haven't settled on what it will be yet. One option is a whole year of buying only secondhand clothes (except for socks and underwear). Unlike my shopping ban - which has been a breeze - I think only buying pre-loved will be very challenging. I have bought a small number of clothes at second hand stores over the years, but I would have bought more if it weren't so hard to find things I like that fit. Most things are way too small. Shrinking to a size 8 isn't a strategy I'm willing to employ! Further, because I intend to mostly buy things I need - not so much things that just take my fancy - I suspect the chances of being able to find a particular item that I'm looking for, without spending entire weekends trawling op shops, are quite slim.

The other option I'm considering is limiting myself to secondhand and handmade clothing (buying directly from the maker). Buying handmade will be a back up option when a secondhand purchase proves too elusive. Thinking about these options now though makes me realise that restricting myself to mostly only buying things I need will likely end up as a de facto shopping ban (or close to it). If there's one thing that my ban has shown, it's that my needs are few...even virtually nonexistent!When I started the ban, one of the ground rules was that I was allowed to buy essentials like socks and underwear if the need arose. But it never did! I started off with way more than enough so even though some of my socks are wearing thin, I have plenty of others to take their place. I could do with a new pair of opaque black tights because one pair seems to have gone missing somehow and a few others are looking a little shabby, but I can probably make do for now (I wear opaque tights all year round because my office is often very cold). I still have 95 days to work out what to do.